Is there a reason we can't just get rid of learning implants all together?

You want good NPE? How about letting them experience some actual aggressive player interaction?
You bar rookie systems entry to anyone who wants to kill making some people hide in these protected systems, meanwhile the rookies are under the impression that nobody is supposed to shoot them so as soon as they leave these systems someone often ganks them and then they cry rivers of tears.

Not really sure how to fix this without opening them up for too much abuse but they should definitely experience some of the chaos.

On Starting Skills...

I personally think the starting skills are just fine where they are. I have yet to see a situation where a new player was unable to participate in any portion of the game. The one exception I can think of is WH exploration because getting scanning skills up far enough to probe yourself takes a little bit (like a week...oh noz).

Keep in mind that the more SP you grant, the quicker the skill queue becomes boring. Veterans aren't affected by this but new players are. If the first skills they train take a day or longer, they'll quickly become bored from the lack of perceived progress.

THIS KILLS PLAYER RETENTION.

Everybody can agree that one of the key 'progress' feedback in EvE is the "Skill Training Completed". New players get a sense for their first month or so that, every day, they are becoming more powerful. Eventually they appreciate the skills that take 10, 20, and 30 days to complete for just one level...but to gain that appreciation, they must first appreciate the baby steps.

With this in mind I think that ACTUAL problem is that the Career Agents offer duplicate skillbooks, and non-essential skillbooks many other posters to this thread have referenced (Such as Hull Upgrades or Trade skills). A new player - even one specializing in a specific game style, regardless of type, should be learning at least two skill levels every day for the first two weeks. That keeps the aforementioned 'progress feedback' intact and meaningful.

The skill system exists not to create barriers to entry, but to create appreciation for what can be accessed with committed training. Let's be honest here, every single tech 1 ship of a given faction can be used with basic effectiveness in a matter of two months. That isn't a barrier to play in any way. All tech 1 frigates can be used with basic effectiveness in one week or less. Will a one week old character in an alliance blob likely not last long or get blapped frequently in pirate gangs? Yeah, what do you expect?

Will they appreciate those first kills and aspire to training towards a role that best serves their newfound home corporation? Yes, they will. These are all good things and proof that the current starter pool of sp is not the problem. How the new skillbooks at the beginning are seeded to a new player could be improved.

CCP stupid like always.

And this idiots in CCP cannot understand one simple thing - new players stay in game ONLY if they join to old players, because old players like tree - they create events, they create strong base and they show who can be new players if they stay in this game.